[now] void of people including traffickers and even herders...
I just watched the Fr24 video in which the above was claimed. Even caravans once plied the sands he said! Just speculating but I doubt very much activity - legitimate or otherwise - has ever gone on in most of the area depicted (see below) particularly south of Lemghetti base - the Majabat al Koubra or 'Empty Quarter'. There are no wells for herders, the terrain is too dune-ridden for swift north-south transit, there have long been Mori army bases along the Chegga track and, as the post above suggests, adjacent north Mali is much safer anyway. So why risk going into Mori?
Very soon after crossing into Mali a few years ago (halfway up the orange zone) we came across a prominent but unmapped north-south track after the border line and before the established Taoudenni piste. Seeing it was no great surprise, nor was its purpose.
So I would say the Mori army units featured in the video have chased no one out and are merely patrolling the entirely unoccupied vertical border with Mali - that's why these guys have not had any contact all year. It may even be an empty PR exercise. Meanwhile as we have read, the real action seems to be along the horizontal border to the south - or the far north where 3 or 4 countries meet - oddly enough not covered by the graphic.
Ch
Last edited by Chris Scott; 31 Oct 2011 at 14:39.
|